Council Meetings: Apr-Jul 2024

Council Meeting – 10th June, 2024

Present:  John Long, Martin Relton, Eddie Haughey, John Sutton Sean McGhee, and Stuart Jones. Guests – Alfonso Escaurazia and Gideon Hayford

Apologies: Felix Martin, Steve Graham

The meeting was held at the Legh Arms, started at 19:00 and finished at 21:30

Actions

  • Stuart to
    • Inform Circle of the recent death of John Beswick (former brother of the circle)
    • Liaise with Tony Andrews about sending a card to John Beswick’s wife
    • Send a card expressing our best wishes and offer of support to Mike Diver’s wife (Josephine)
    • To recognise Mike Dobson’s resignation letter and offer country membership
    • Send a WhatsApp about the Brunch Dinner
    • Communicate the latest list of events once we have confirmed dates
    • Confirm a date for his SVP bike ride
  • Sean to
    • Send to Stuart a communication about the Avro Heritage Site Visit to forward to the Circle and Province
  • Nick to
    • Liaise with Simeon and confirm the date and details for the July Pub Walk
    • Co-ordinate with Alfonso and Felix on the date for President’s Sunday/Garden Party (possibly to be held at Stuart’s house)
  • Alfonso to check on details of the proposed ‘dads’ bowling event and see if Catenians can be included
  • Gideon/Alfonso to give a brief update to the Circle at the next meeting about the First Communion Day at Church on 1st June
  • John Long to speak to Mike Dobson.
  • John Sutton to find out if Pat Flood would be happy to speak after the Circle meeting at our September meeting.
  • All to be proactive in asking brothers how we can make the monthly Thursday drinks sessions more popular (e.g. by having a speaker).

Those actions starting with a ‘*’ are outstanding from previous meetings. The number of stars indicates how many months.

Completed Actions

  • None

Decisions

  • None

Matters arising from the last Circle Meeting

None

Welfare

We noted that Peter Lowe continues to need our support contact is being maintained and it was good to see him at the Avro visit.

We have heard that Mike Diver is now in a care home with dementia.  His wife has indicated that visits are not appropriate as he is not likely to recognise anyone.  Stuart will send a card and offer help if needed

We also noted that a past brother, John Beswick had passed away at the end of May.  It was highlighted that we only found out about his passing through a notice in the Knutsford Guardian and it was disappointing that, as a Circle, we had not found out earlier.  We agreed to send a condolences card and that Stuart should inform the Circle

Our sick list is: James O’Dude, Joan Shaw (wife of Brother John). Also Bro Jim Flood’s niece’s child Finn, Peter Phillips (former President of the Circle), Mike Diver and George Moon (great grandson of former brother Peter Kerr).

Social Events

  • The Avro visit, organised by Sean, went very well and was supported by 15 brothers and wives (including one from another Circle).  Our thanks to Sean for such a good event
  • We discussed the following events:
  • Brunch Lunch at the Church Inn on 19th June – invites are out and enough are attending to make it viable.
  • July pub walk and meal – we need to confirm the date and details of the walk (see actions)
  • President’s Sunday/Garden Party – after much discussion we agreed that it would be good to have a ‘simple’ garden party to get families engaged at a very low cost.  Stuart offered his garden as a venue (depending on the agreed date) – other possible venues at brothers’s houses were discussed.  A date needs to be agreed.
  • Bowling – it was felt that we would link in, if possible, with the existing pta plan for a dad’s bowling session.  Alfonso will check if this is viable.
  • Christmas Dinner – now booked for 6th December at Cottons. Cost will be £40 a head including a welcome drink.  Eddie suggested that funds would be available to support some form of entertainment
  • At the last Circle meeting Bill had suggested that we hold a meal at the Sigiriya restaurant.  We discussed this and felt that it would be too expensive for a Circle wide event

Membership

We discussed Mike Dobson’s resignation.  Stuart will offer country membership and John Long will aim to have a chat with him.

We discussed the merits (or otherwise) of having our Circle Meeting on a different day as some potential members cannot do the first Monday in a Month.  We concluded that whatever date we chose would be problematic for some people and that changing our current date could cause other issues.

We agreed that we should push for more after Circle speakers this year.  It was suggested that the first should be the SVP.

We also discussed the need for all council members to be more pro-active in engaging other brothers and key topics (like membership) after Circle meetings.  We will start by asking brothers how we can make the monthly Thursday drinks sessions more popular (e.g. by having a speaker).

Finance

Finances are OK – so far 15 brothers have paid their subs.

Subscriptions for 2024/25 are. 

  • Full subs: £172
  • Country Membership: £117
  • Joint Membership: £107

There will be a further £5 increase for 2025/26.

Province and national

The provincial convention is July 17th at Ringway – Eddie and John S will be attending and John S will send out a WhatsApp asking for others to join in.

Officers for 2024/25

We still need a Vice President.

AOB

Stuart has offered to do a sponsored 100 mile (162km) bike ride for the President’s charity.  The route will stay close to Knutsford and it would be good to have other brothers join him for part (or all) of the route.

Council Meeting 8th July 2024

Present:  Felix Martin, John Long, Martin Relton, Steve Graham, Eddie Haughey, Sean McGhee, Nick Johnson and Stuart Jones. Guests – Gideon Hayford

Apologies: John Sutton

The meeting was held at the Legh Arms, started at 19:00 and finished at 21:30

Actions

  • Stuart to
    • *Communicate the latest list of events once we have confirmed dates
    • *Confirm a date for his SVP bike ride – likely to mid Sep.
    • Process the resignation of Mike Dobson
    • Send out reminders about the Sutton Walk (including an invite to Macclesfield Circle)
    • Send out a reminder about paying the subs.
    • Produce a brief for a group to review how to make Circle meetings more engaging.
  • Sean to
    • *Send to Stuart a communication about the Avro Heritage Site Visit to forward to the Circle and Province
  • Martin to
    • Contact Mike Hosker
    • Look at producing a newsletter for the Circle
  • Felix to:
    • Contact the Railway Inn to confirm the date for the bowling (and food options)
    • Talk to Fr. David about using the parish hall for the talk about catholic family life on 14th Sep
    • Work with John Long on a top 5 list of candidates for VP.
  • *John Sutton to find out if Pat Flood would be happy to speak after the Circle meeting at our September meeting.
  • John Long to confirm arrangements for the Rose and Crown informal meal on the 28th July.
  • Eddie to confirm arrangements for a meal at Sigiriya restaurant on August 18th.
  • Steve to make arrangements for raffles to start at Circle meetings
  • * All to be proactive in asking brothers how we can make the monthly Thursday drinks sessions more popular (e.g. by having a speaker). Ongoing

Those actions starting with a ‘*’ are outstanding from previous meetings. The number of stars indicates how many months.

Completed Actions

  • Stuart to
    • Inform Circle of the recent death of John Beswick (former brother of the circle)
    • Liaise with Tony Andrews about sending a card to John Beswick’s wife
    • Send a card expressing our best wishes and offer of support to Mike Diver’s wife (Josephine)
    • To recognise Mike Dobson’s resignation letter and offer country membership
    • Send a WhatsApp about the Brunch Dinner
  • Nick to
    • Liaise with Simeon and confirm the date and details for the July Pub Walk
    • Co-ordinate with Alfonso and Felix on the date for President’s Sunday/Garden Party (possibly to be held at Stuart’s house) – see notes below
  • Alfonso to check on details of the proposed ‘dads’ bowling event and see if Catenians can be included – not an option.
  • Gideon/Alfonso to give a brief update to the Circle at the next meeting about the First Communion Day at Church on 1st June – completed
  • John Long to speak to Mike Dobson. Will be done as part of normal membership role.

Decisions

  •  

Matters arising from the last Circle Meeting

Stuart has asked brothers to vote on the proposal from GBNC about removal of the word practising when asking a brother if they are catholic.  Of those who have voted so far 93% have voted in favour of the proposal. Stuart will ‘close’ the vote at the end of the month.

Welfare

We noted that Peter Lowe continues to need our support though he does seem to be well and recently started a ‘tour’ of a few places in England.

We have heard that Mike Diver is now in a care home with dementia.  Stuart has sent a card and offered help.  No reply has been received yet.

We noted that Mike Hosker has not been at Circle for quite a few months.  Martin will contact him to check all is well and see it there is anything more for us to do.

We noted that John Hurst’s wife Wendy has returned home from being in care but continues to need our prayers.

Our sick list is: James O’Dude, Joan Shaw (wife of Brother John), Wendy Hurst (wife of brother John). Also Bro Jim Flood’s niece’s child Finn, Peter Phillips (former President of the Circle), Mike Diver and George Moon (great grandson of former brother Peter Kerr).

Social Events

  • The lunch at the Church Inn went well and was thoroughly enjoyed by the small number who attended.
  • We did our traditional ‘good job’ at the school fair with the Tombola selling out very quickly.  We have suggested to the school that the price of tombola tickets be increased next year.  It was clear that the Catenians were helping out but no specific new member opportunities were identified.

We discussed the following future events:

  • Ramble in Sutton Lane Ends on 13th July –  9 people are attending, we agreed to also invite Macclesfield Circle.
  • Informal meal at the Rose and Crown – agreed on Sat 28th July for this.  John Long to organise.
  • Meal at the Sigiriya restaurant.  We discussed this and Eddie will confirm if we can go ahead at £35 a meal on the 18th August.
  • President’s Sunday/Bowling – after much discussion we agreed to continue with a bowling event at the Railway Inn, ideally with some food on a weekend.  Felix to confirm the date
  • Talk to the parish from a catholic family ‘guru’ on 14th Sep.  Felix to check with Fr. David about using the parish rooms.
  • Christmas Dinner – now booked for 6th December at Cottons. Cost will be £40 a head including a welcome drink.  Eddie suggested that funds would be available to support some form of entertainment.
  • Beer and Curry Night will be on Thursday, 19th December
  • Beartown Brewery – now confirmed for Wednesday, 23rd October at 19:00

Note: Martin Relton confirmed that Catenians can now use the Scouts minibus (if available).  It seats 14 + 1.

Membership

We discussed Mike Dobson’s resignation.  Stuart will now process his formal resignation.

John will focus mainly on the parish (rather than the school) for membership.  He had noticed that most of the people at the tombola were mums rather than dads.

Gideon raised the point about wider use of social media to better engage with younger members/prospects.  E.g. Instagram.  No decisions were made but we do need to discuss further.

Finance

Finances are OK – so far 50% of brothers have paid their subs.

Subscriptions for 2024/25 are. 

  • Full subs: £172
  • Country Membership: £117
  • Joint Membership: £107

There will be a further £5 increase for 2025/26.

Eddie confirmed that we need to start the Circle meeting raffles for the Christmas Party.

Province and national

The provincial convention is July 17th at Ringway – attendance is OK from Knutsford.

Officers for 2024/25

We still need a Vice President.  John Long and Felix agreed to focus attention on a ‘Top 5’ list of candidates.

AOB

We discussed how to make Circle meetings more engaging and agreed to invite 3 or 4 brothers (representing all ages) to come up with a proposal.  Stuart will produce a brief.

We also had a chat about the newsletter (or lack thereof).  Martin will have a look at doing a simple newsletter.